Throughout this year, New Hampshire was a state that we watched closely. On Election Day, the Granite State offered plenty of good news, but one statistic in particular caught my eye.

In addition to maintaining Democratic majorities in both the state house and state senate, the voters of New Hampshire chose to make a bit of history.

For the first time ever, women have gained the majority in a legislative chamber.

After Tuesday’s election, thirteen of the twenty-four state Senate seats in New Hampshire are now occupied by women. Peggy Gilmore (District 12), Bette Lasky (District 13) and Amanda Merrill (District 21) beat out their Republican opponents to join the eight Democratic female incumbents (and two Republican women) in the upper chamber.

This post was written by Danielle Horowtiz, a Klindt/Dye Intern for the 2008 Fall Semester.